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5 mind-blowing Second World War facts you have no idea

The 20th century was not a good time for the world as it saw two bloodiest wars of mankind within 25 years gap which took millions of lives. As if the First World War was not enough, human being faced another deadliest disaster in the name of Second World War that potentially damaged the entire world history with its blood mark. Though, it changed the world shape in a way that has not been fully realized yet despite being a calamitous event. The interesting news is, you can spend the entire life to understand this still, it is impossible to know everything about this war. Pick any country from any part; you will still find something new and chances of getting mind-boggling events are more. Here are 5 mind-blowing Second World War facts you have no idea.

AlaskaInvasion

Americans believed that their land would be impossible be attacked and since 1800 no external force dared to attack them though this was false pride as their views were not realistic because, in reality, Japanese attacked Alaska in 1942 which is the least talked about incident of Second World War. Despite having a strong-armed force; the US struggled one year, and at the end of 1943, they recaptured after many bloodiest wars and the signs are still reflecting there. This is known as the Forgotten Battle, and many historians believe that the intention was to distract the US Navy from Midway Atoll during the Battle of Midway as both attacks were operated by the same Japanese commander, though some are rejecting this theory by sighting the reason that, Japan’s intention was to protect their northern flank.

Japan and Russia are still at war

From 1904, there was a dispute between two countries to establish their rights on Manchuria, Korea, and Sakhalin & Kurile Island and Japan’s win after one year of war made the situation worst and became the main reason for Russia to wage another war against the already defeated empire after the surrender of Germany. Stalin already knew that Japan was not in a position to fight another war, and that’s why he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to seize these lands however he never admitted the real reason till his last breath. The incident shows the real purpose of Russia because there was no reason to invade a country who already surrenders. The failure of peace treaty due to the refusal of Russia to hand over the control to Japan is the reason that both countries are technically still at war and even after many interferences of UN, Russia doesn’t take any step to resolve it.

Poland fought till 1963

Though Germany launched a massive attack against Poland and did a significant damage just to start the war in Europe still, it couldn’t defeat even after the surrender of Polish Army, and this is another least talked about topic. The Polish Army was helpless in front of Germany due to the sudden attack, and about 5 lakh Polish soldiers decided to escape from there and went underground where they started an all-out war against them. After 5 years of hopeless battle, they requested Russia for help but didn’t get anything from them; instead, Russia invaded and treated them worse than Germans by executing soldiers and prosecuting the Polish Jews. Still, some soldiers successfully avoided the prosecution and continued the war against Russia like they did against Germany until their last breath and it was over after the death of last soldier Jozef Franczak in 1963. Though they failed to protect their nation; however, there was no dearth of their immense courage that inspired them to fight such long battle by spending their rest of the life which is praiseworthy. And yes, it was not Germany who defeated them.

A Nazi saved the Chinese from Massacre

When the Nanking Massacre famously known as the rape of Nanking happened in 1937 that took the lives of 3 lakh people; a leader of the local Nazi organization John Rabe came as a rescuer. It is surprised to know that a person who respected the Nazi ideology did his best to save the people. Born in Hamburg and worked in Africa for a brief time, he finally moved to China in 1908 where he stayed for 30 years and worked for the Siemens AG China Corporation in Mukden and later moved to Nanking. During the war, he didn’t leave Nanking and as a local Nazi leader declared that place as the neutral zone to protect the Chinese people. Japan refused to recognize it as a safe zone and started the atrocities. Helpless Rabe wrote a letter to Hitler to convince the Japanese government but didn’t get any response. When Japan attacked the city, 250000 refugees already took asylum there, and more than 600 people stayed in Rabe’s house and garden. When the situation became worst, he came to the street to convince the Chinese soldiers to lay down arms and hide in the safe zone. Japanese soldiers took advantage of this situation and killed as many as people by assuming them soldiers in plain clothes. He roamed the entire city and did his best to stop the execution and rapes by using his Nazi armband to command respect which saved thousands of lives. Had it not been Rabe, the death toll would be higher than 3 lakh. He was humiliated after the war due to his affiliation with Nazi party though he never met Hitler or lived in Germany during his rule. Even though he was a Nazi by heart till his death, we should not disrespect him just for the sake of ideology.

The president of the US narrowly escaped from cannibals

The senior Bush and then Lieutenant was the part of the attack along with 100 American pilots, but unfortunately, they were shot down by the Japanese, and only three pilots including Bush managed to escape. Out of 3, two died, but it is unclear whether due to the aircraft crash or cold water rescue team unable to identify and managed to save Bush only. The horrific part is eight pilots with Bush were disappeared, and for decades their files were not declassified by the US government. Their fate was unimaginable that found through an investigation which even Bush didn’t know. They were beaten, tortured, beheaded and eaten by those Japanese soldiers. General Yoshio Tachibana who was a sadist and alcoholic ordered the execution of eight captured pilots, and two of them were cooked and eaten by the soldiers with the help of a doctor. Maybe the president of US would have faced the same fate.